For January: Total $3.41 million

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) today reported that revenues for the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund (CPF) produced $3.41 million in revenue for the Peconic Bay Region for January 2012.  This compares with $6.44 million a year ago. Since its inception in 1999, the Peconic Bay Regional Community Preservation Fund has generated $725.86 million.  The CPF expires in 2030.

Below are revenues by Town for January 2012 compared with 2011:

Source: Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. press release dated March 1, 2012

Community Preservation Fund revenues collected for Riverhead Town fell nearly 16 percent in 2011, compared to 2010, according to data recently released by New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele.

Southampton was the only East End town to see year-to-year growth in CPF revenues collected, increasing 15.1 percent over 2010. The increase in Southampton offset declines in the other four towns, so that, regionally, revenues collected in 2011 were .1 percent highher than in 2010.

The fund, generated by a 2 percent tax on certain land transfers in the five East End towns, is dedicated by state law to the preservation of open space in the town in which the revenues are collected.

In the 2000s, Riverhead borrowed heavily against its anticipated CPF revenues, in order to make targeted acquisitions of land threatened by development. Annual CPF revenues would cover the town's bonded indebtedness for the land acquisition program. By 2008, the town had issued bonds totalling more than $30 million to accomplish this goal. Then the financial crisis erupted and the real estate market tumbled — along with it, the CPF revenues collected by the town to pay the CPF debt.

In recent years, the town's annual CPF revenues are half of what they were during the booming real estate market of the early-to-mid 2000s.

Unless there's a drastic improvement, Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter warned fellow board members during budget discussions this year, CPF reserves set aside to pay the CPF debt service would be wiped out in 2013.

Real estate sales on the East End in 2011 were flat compared to 2010, according to George Simpson, president of Suffolk Research Service Inc. The 2011 numbers on median home sale prices, unit sales and dollar sales are up compared to 2008 and 2009, but show little or no improvement over 2010, Simpson said.

Since its inception in 1999, the Peconic Bay Regional Community Preservation Fund has generated more than $722 million for land preservation, Thiele said. A total of $58.85 million was collected for the CPF in 2010, compared to $58.78 million in 2010, according to the assemblyman. The regional total for December 2011 was $5.33 million.

Below is the town-by-town breakdown of revenues for 2011 compared with 2010:

PECONIC BAY COMMUNITY PRESERVATION FUND REVENUES HIT THE HIGHEST MONTHLY TOTAL SINCE MAY 2008
January revenue of $6.44 million is 23 percent higher than a year ago

(Feb. 22) Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) today reported that revenues for the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund produced revenue of $6.44 million for the Peconic Bay Region for January 2011, 23 percent higher than January a year ago when $5.22 million was collected.

January 2011 is the highest monthly CPF total since May 2008, several months before the financial meltdown which triggered the Great Recession.

The number of transactions in January 2011 was 485 compared with 521 a year ago. Since its inception on 1999, the Peconic Bay Regional Community Preservation Fund has now generated $670.05 million. The CPF expires in 2030. Thiele stated, “The trend of higher CPF revenues continued in January, particularly in the Town of Southampton. Given that the number of transactions is relatively similar to last year, it would appear that the revenue increase continues to be driven by activity at the high end of the real estate market.”

Below are revenues by Town for January 2011 compared with January 2010.

Source: Assemblyman Fred Thiele press release dated Feb. 22, 2011

Riverhead Town issued 71 residential new construction permits in 2010. While that was a bump of six more permits than were issued the year before, it's still a dramatic 72 percent reduction when compared with the first five years of the last decade, when the town issued, on average, 249 residential new construction permits per year.

On the bright side, it's a 78 percent increase over the 40 issued in 2008.

"We're starting to see some activity again," said Riverhead building department administrator Leroy Barnes.

Edgar Goodale of Riverhead Building Supply said his company has been seeing an uptick in business, making him optimistic about the near-term prospects for a local housing market recovery. See story.

Sixty-four permits for residential additions were issued by the building department last year, along with 332 permits for home renovations. The combined total of 396 additions/alterations permits was up significantly from 2009, when 155 permits for residential additions/renovations were issued.

An additional 370 permits were issued for nonliving area improvements, such as pools and signs. The building department also issued four new commercial construction permits and 137 commercial addition or alteration permits.

The total number of permits issued in 2010 was 978, up from 949 in 2009. The 2009 number was the lowest since 2000, according to building department records.

By all accounts, the nation's housing market remains in a deep slump after the bubble burst a few years back.

Builders broke ground on a total of 587,600 homes in the U.S. in 2010, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. That was only a tiny bit improved over 2009, when there were 554,000 new housing starts nationwide. According to the commerce department, 2009 and 2010 were the two worst years on record, dating back to 1959.

In a good economy, builders start about one million new homes a year, according to the commerce department. They built twice that number in 2005, at the height of the housing boom.